


It Was Just an Ordinary Day

by Doctors_Imzadi



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Action, Angst, F/M, Mystery Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 04:38:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doctors_Imzadi/pseuds/Doctors_Imzadi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jane was just having an ordinary - if dull - day at the office when her Commanding Officer gave her a new charge.....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Assignment

_Thump, thump, thwack! Thump, thump, thwack!_

            Another day at the office. Jane stared at the wall, her head resting in one hand, bored silly, as she amused herself by throwing her stress ball at her desk so that it bounced off the wall and returned to her hand.

 

_Thump, thump, thwack!_

 

            It had been several weeks since she had been sent on a mission, and she was getting frustrated with the seemingly endless virtual paperwork that had found its way to her terminal. She had several hours’ worth of tedious work to sift through, various reports on alien activity in far-off sectors, looking for anything that might merit a more thorough investigation.

_Thump, thump, thwack!_

 

            She pretended not to hear the quiet murmuring from her fellow officers in the office, and ignored the feelings of irritation she was sensing from them. Not that she would admit to the latter, however. That particular gift was one she kept very much under wraps, and that decision had more than once proven useful and even life-saving.

_Thump, thump, thwack!_

 

            “Oh God, not that bouncing ball again!”

            It was a light, carefree, feminine voice, the accent identifying her as having been raised in the area that was once the United Kingdom of Earth, more specifically the city of London. The voice alone would have given her away as one of Jane’s best friends, even if Jane had not sensed her coming. Jane sighed. “Well, I have to stay occupied somehow, don’t I?”

 

            “Oh, and I suppose it never occurred to you to sort through your files, did it?”

            Jane glared at the blonde. She of all people knew how Jane loathed “secretary work”, as she called it.

 

            _Thump, thump, thwack!_

 

            The blond girl sighed, knowing a lost cause when she saw one. She decided to switch tactics.

 

            “Bored, are we?” she asked.

 

            “Infinitely,” replied Jane.

 

            “Well, this should cheer you up,” Jane’s friend began shuffling the files she was carrying. “You’ve got a new assignment starting tomorrow.”

 

            Jane started, dropping her ball and nearly falling out of her chair. “What?! How? There hasn’t been anything on the comms! Where am I going?”

 

            The blonde stifled a grin as she continued searching for the right file. “You’re not going anywhere,” she said, finally finding the file she was digging for and handing it to Jane. “ _You_ get to train a new recruit!”

 

            “ _WHAT?!_ ” Jane shrieked, not bothering to keep her voice down. “You have _got_ to be kidding me!” She snatched the file away from her friend, though she was now secretly wondering whether she ought to rethink that relationship.

 

            “Those are your orders,” said the blonde apologetically, though she was in fact thoroughly enjoying her friend’s agitation.

 

            “I _never_ get noob duty!” complained Jane, glancing through the file nonetheless. “I fucking _hate_ noob duty!”

 

            The blonde bit her lip, trying to keep from laughing. She had a feeling Jane might just change her mind about this particular assignment. Still, she did her best to play innocent. “I’m sorry, Jane. But these orders were authorized directly by Admiral Marcus.”

 

            “Oh for fuck’s sake, Carol!” wailed Jane. “Can’t you talk him out of it?!”

 

            Carol Marcus chuckled. “Now, Jane, you _know_ that I can’t use my personal relationship with the admiral to influence his orders.”

 

            “But you’re his daughter! Can’t you help your _friend_ out of this?”

 

            Carol gave Jane a mock-glare. “You know I can’t!”

 

            Jane sighed in defeat, looking more closely at the file Carol had given her. “I hate training noobs!”

 

            “Well,” said Carol, forcing a straight face, “you never know. There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there? Maybe you’ll enjoy this assignment.”

 

            Jane glared at her again. Carol smiled innocently. “Anyway,” said Carol, “you’re scheduled to start at 0800 tomorrow morning. And your trainee’s name is John Harrison. Do try to be nice to him.”

 

            Jane scoffed, rolling her eyes as she turned back to her computer terminal. Carol bit her lip once again, determining that she would be sure to be in the office at 0800 the next morning, just to see her friend’s reaction to her new recruit......

            


	2. The First Day

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

 

            Jane groaned as she slammed the snooze button on her alarm. More than ever, she wanted to just call in sick on this particular morning. But with the admiral himself having arranged this assignment, she could hardly skip work without there being consequences. Knowing her luck, the admiral himself would come knocking at her door to verify her illness. Resigning herself to the inevitable, she dragged herself out of bed and begrudgingly began her morning toiletry routine.

            All morning, something was nagging at the back of Jane’s mind. Something was off, but damned if she could pinpoint what it was. As she made her way to her office in Starfleet Headquarters, she suddenly realized that there was very little personal information about her new charge, and there was no photo identification. Jane had never seen a file that lacked a photo ID. _Oh for fuck’s sake...._ she chided herself. _Maybe the photo just got misplaced. I know you hate noob duty, girl, but get a grip on yourself. No sense screwing up an assignment straight from the Boss man!_

            She squealed into her cubicle at 0757, barely giving herself time to deposit her personal effects before she heard and sensed the duo behind her. Recognizing a commodore, she turned and quickly snapped to attention.

            “Lieutenant,” acknowledged Commodore Norrington. He was an extraordinarily ordinary man, average height, slightly prominent cheekbones (as was typical of descendants of Earth’s England), average build, average looks, average just about everything. He seemed slightly bored with his current assignment, but he did his best to hide it.

            “Allow me to introduce you to our new recruit,” said Norrington, turning to the stranger next to him. “This is Lieutenant John Harrison.”

            Jane stared. She did her best not to stare, then stared some more.

            “ _What. The. Fuck?!"_ she couldn’t help but think. This John Harrison was..... well, quite frankly, perfect. Six feet tall, his body was very nicely muscled, if his slightly-too-tight uniform was any indication. He had a shock of dark brown hair and bright, piercing blue-green eyes. His skin was pale, and there wasn’t a single scar or even flaw on the man. He seemed to be the epitome of human physical perfection. Jane looked him over  several times, not quite believing what she saw. “ _Christ!”_ she thought, “ _is he even human?!”_

“Lieutenant! Is there a problem?”

            The commodore’s bark snapped Jane’s attention back into place. “No, sir!” she replied hastily. “Sorry, sir.”

            Harrison gave her a slight smirk, as if he had read her mind. _“Shit,”_ she thought as she paid as much attention to the commodore as she needed to (and not an ounce more). _“I’m sure he has women fawning over him left and right. Hell, he’s probably married. And I don’t have time for anything like that anyway!”_

Despite herself, she couldn’t help but steal a glance at his left hand, noticing that he did not wear a ring. Curiosity getting the better of her, she removed her mental shields and reached out with her mind to see what she could sense of him, and she was nearly knocked senseless. Pain, anger, fear, patience, deception, devotion, power.....  She gasped, the intensity of his emotions overwhelming her.

            “Everything all right, Lieutenant?” The commodore sounded slightly irritated.

            Jane composed herself with an effort. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Just a flare-up of an old wound, sir. It happens now and then.”

            Harrison’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her, as if he had read right through that lie. The sudden flare of suspicion Jane sensed from him only seemed to confirm so. She eyeballed him again, driving her mind as far as she could into his. Suspicion, wariness, mistrust, extreme confidence, and.... love? Jane’s eyes narrowed. All kinds of negative emotions in this man, and yet so many positive attributes hidden beneath the surface. Clearly, this was a very complicated man.

            “Any questions from either of you?” Commodore Norrington had finally finished his little speech. Jane had heard it many, many times already.

            “No, sir,” they replied in sync.

            “Lieutenants,” the commodore saluted and turned away, leaving Jane alone with this enigmatic stranger. Harrison inclined his head. “Lieutenant.”

            Jane scoffed lightly. “Yes, Lieutenant. First things first. We’re going to sound like a couple of morons if we sit here ‘lieutenant, lieutenant, lieutenant'-ing each other to death.” She smiled, offering her hand. “I’m Jane.”

            “John,” said the stranger, shaking her hand with a slight smile. Every move he made was measured, calculated.

            _“Who_ are _you?”_ thought Jane. She had met many different people of many different races in her time, and not a one had ever been such a mystery. He was definitely human, his emotion patterns confirmed that. But there was something else about him, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She chewed her lip for a moment, then snapped back to attention again.

            “Well,” she said hurriedly. “I guess we can start with a tour of the place. Start boring and get more interesting as we go. More or less...”

 

            Carol Marcus was kitty-corner to Jane’s cubicle, and was biting her finger so hard she feared she would draw blood. Even so, it was still an almighty struggle to keep from laughing out loud. While it was a punishable act to tamper with an official file, it was more than worth removing John Harrison’s photo just to see Jane’s reaction. And besides, there were _some_ perks to being an admiral’s daughter.....

            


	3. A Slight Hiccup

_I’m walkin’ on sunshine! Whoa-oh! I’m walkin’ on sunshine!_

The late 20th century classic was stuck in Jane’s head as she fairly skipped to work. It _was_ a very sunny day, and the past few weeks of training her new recruit had gone wonderfully. In fact, better than wonderfully. John Harrison was without question the fastest learning recruit Section 31 had ever had. Normally new recruits were trained on base for six months before prepping for an interstellar assignment; Harrison had gotten that far in five weeks. Pleased with their progress, Admiral Marcus had granted both Harrison and Jane a week’s furlough, which Jane had utilized by visiting the still harsh wilderness that was found in Alaska. She found the crisp air and lack of technology to be very refreshing, and as she fairly pranced to work today, she was convinced that it was entirely her short vacation that had her in such a good mood, not the thought of seeing Harrison again. During their five weeks of training they had been together for about twelve hours a day, five to six days a week, and in that time Harrison had gradually thawed a bit around her. He was still very guarded and reserved, but he had started opening up about his life. Jane had learned that he’d never known his father, his mother had tragically died in an accident when he was four, depriving him of both her and his younger sibling whom she was pregnant with, he was raised by distant relations in a small community in what was previously Earth’s country of India.  He had a passion for sushi and hated apple pie. And yet....

Jane chewed her lip, unable to shake the sensation that he was still hiding something, something important. While she sensed truthfulness behind everything he said (especially his sour expression when discussing apple pie), she had also sensed.... something. Like he was hiding something, but it was so carefully guarded that not even her highly developed sense of empathy could pinpoint what it was. She was not accustomed to being unable to sense a human’s emotions. She smirked slightly. Perhaps that was part of the reason she enjoyed his company so much.

            Jane shook her head to clear it. She was just in a good mood because of her vacation, and the progress she was making, and the fact that today she and Harrison were starting their pre-op briefing and training. Between that and the intoxicating San Francisco summer sunshine, she spirits were so high that her mind was running rampant. Feelings for John Harrison?? Hardly!

            Jane whistled as she made her way to her cubicle, drawing several curious looks from her coworkers. While she was hardly dour, she was not normally taken to such brazen cheerfulness, either. Her whistle faltered slightly when she saw that Harrison’s desk was vacant; he was normally here well before she was. She glanced around the office, maybe he was up and about?

            An ensign occupying the cube next to her noticed her shifting gaze. “He’s not coming in today.”

            Jane snapped her head toward the youngster so fast she got a crick in her neck. “Who’s not?” she asked, feigning innocence.

            Ensign Turner smirked, clearly not buying her act. “Lieutenant Harrison will not be reporting today.”

            Jane scowled. “And why not? We were supposed to start our mission pre-op today! He’s going to have his ass in a jam!”

            Turner shrugged with a lazy smirk on his face and turned back to his console. “How should I know? I’m not the boss!”  Jane wished she could connect her fist to his nose and add some color to his irritating face.

            She flopped into her chair with a sigh, her bright, cheery mood turned sour. Not bothering to try and hide her scowl, she turned on her computer terminal to see if there were any messages regarding Harrison’s unscheduled absence. Sixty-seven messages in the past week, most of them barely earning a glance from her. She scrolled it to the most recent ones. Three from people in other departments looking for advice on such and such, an ad from an Orion dating site (she was going to have words with the officer in charge of their spam filters), and a quick message from Carol asking to meet up for lunch this week. Nothing from Harrison or a superior officer. She sighed again, her scowl turning into more of a concerned frown. Harrison was a model officer, as he had demonstrated by his inhuman-like progress and aptitude of their program, and for him to simply ditch with no explanation was completely out of character. Jane chewed her lip, hoping nothing had happened to her charge. What if he had been mugged? For all she knew, he could be bleeding to death down some cold alleyway....

            She shook her head fiercely. Where had that come from? Harrison was a top-rated Starfleet officer and a star recruit of Section 31, it was far unlikely that any street thugs would be able to take advantage of him. Jane stared at her computer console, her mind wandering as it tried to figure out what in the world could have called Harrison away on such an important day. A million scenarios ran through her head, each more insane than the last. He had no family, so it couldn’t be that. Could it be he was seeing someone? Jane felt an unpleasant rush at the thought and immediately dismissed it. He had clearly stated many times over the course of their training that he was completely unattached. Not that that was any of her business, anyway, and nor did it matter to her in the least if he was in a relationship.

            Sighing in frustration, Jane got up and went to get herself a coffee from the lobby downstairs. She was going to need some major caffeine to get through a day of secretary work, especially after a broken promise of mission pre-op. The lobby was mercifully empty, giving her the freedom to doll up her coffee with her favored generous helping of cream and heaping amount of sugar. A small smile played on her lips. Usually the looks she would get when people saw just _how_ much sugar she put in her coffee were enough to make her go much easier than she preferred, and the days when she could indulge without being noticed tended to put her in an overall better mood. Maybe it was just a sugar buzz. Jane sucked on the spoon, not wanting a single drop of the precious liquid to go to waste, thinking perhaps today would be the day to take Carol up on her offer of lunch.

            _Carol!_

            Jane threw the spoon on the counter and bolted out the door. Not nearly patient enough to wait for the lift, she flew up the stairs back to her office, not caring about the odd looks she was getting from her coworkers. She landed on her chair with a huff and hurriedly sent a message to Carol asking if they could meet for lunch today. A quick glance at the chronometer on her desk revealed it to be not quite 0900, so Carol should get the message before she left her office for her usual daily seminar. Carol was teaching a class on basic weapons technology this summer, leaving her out of the office for most of the morning after 0900.

            Jane panted slightly as she worked on catching her breath from her sudden adrenaline burst. _I am such a dumbass sometimes!_ she chided herself. _If_ anyone _would know what’s up with John Harrison, it would be Carol!_ One could not be an admiral’s daughter without hearing pretty much every rumor before it even started. Especially the daughter of the admiral in charge of Starfleet....

            Jane drummed her fingers on her desk impatiently. If Carol missed the message, she likely wouldn’t get it on time to do lunch today. Jane chewed her lip, not liking the idea of having to wait until tomorrow to talk to her friend.

            The chronometer read 0858 when a message blinked on from Carol. Jane felt a huge grin spread on her face as she read Carol’s affirmation. It would be good to see her friend again. They had not been able to see much of each other since Jane began working with Harrison, and she was anxious to do some catch up, as well as hopefully find out what was going on with said charge of hers. And Jane also had a sneaking suspicion that her dear sweet friend may have had a whole lot more to do with her getting assigned to work with Harrison than she liked to let on....

            Jane leaned her chair back with a smile, the day not seeming quite so dull anymore. Any day with sugar coffee was a good day, she thought, reaching absentmindedly for her drink. That was when she realized she had left it in the lobby....

            _Whoops!_ she thought. _Guess I’ll just have to take another break to go get it. Shucks!_


End file.
